High School Boy Changes Stance on Prostitution

A young man was planning on writing a paper on why prostitution should just be legalized. After mentioning his idea to a teacher he assists, This teacher (who also happens to be a RRC volunteer) began a small discussion on some facts she already knew on the topic. He then dug a little deeper and changed his stance when writing about prostitution. (Culture change- one by one) Here is what he wrote:

Prostitution

It is the oldest occupation, said by anti-prostitution activists. As a women or men get drugged everyday all around the world by pimps of all ages, genders, and sex, to get their dignity stripped away from them. Drugged for the sake of taking the pain away. This is a very overlooked problem, but can be found in all parts of the world. Not only are these men and women abused physically, they will also mentally be changed forever. When men sell these women for sex, abolitionist believe that prostitution isn’t about sexual identity or sex, but more about male power and that the male gender is superior. Lastly, this is a universal problem that many countries have done amazing things to stop the horrible dilemma too many of us have to face. To oppose the popular standpoint that prostitution should be and stay illegal, it is a $14 billion industry and the government would highly benefit from the tax money.

Countries like the Sweden, Netherlands and Ireland are all doing amazing things to help these poor men and women fight for their rights to be human. (Bindel) In Sweden, they started to put laws into place for the criminalization of people selling sex in 1999, and now, more than 80% of people are now supporting the government’s progress and their eway to stop this ongoing problem. Things weren’t the same for the government in the Netherlands. (Bindel) They started off as they wanted to legalize prostitution, but three years after they had put these laws into place, prostitution streets that had high prostitution rates were starting to shut down and they started restricting the number of brothel licences that they would give out. (Bindel) Lastly, in Ireland, they started a campaign called “Turn Off the Red Light”. This campaign was used to criminalize the buying and selling of sex. (Bindel) These countries see the risks of leaving this issue alone and are making the steps needed to prevent it any further. Whether the steps taken are laws or just awareness, it is more than other countries can say. Most other countries shy away from this topic in a “out of sight out of mind” mentality, so what these countries are doing, it better than nothing.

These men and women are drugged and abused everyday and have no rights to protect them. Those lucky enough to escape, are left with very hard mental disorders forever. 68% of people who get out suffer from PTSD, and 70% of people have signs of depression after they get out. After asking some prostitutes, if given the resources and ability to leave, more than 80% agreed and said they would want to get out. (Young) A case study done with 854 women inducted into prostitution unwillingly is 9 different countries, 63% said they were raped by a pimp, 71% said they had been physically abused, and 89% said, if given the option, would have escaped. (Young) In a study conducted by Amnesty, they found out that the average age people go into this “occupation” are between the ages of 12 and 14. (Young) These CHILDREN have no rights, are too small and young to protect themselves. All the mental disorders are more than just a disorder when they are that age. They are just trying to find out who they are, but now, these preteens and young teenagers have this burden to sit on their shoulders while trying to find things out like where they want to go to college or exploring relationships. But that is just for the lucky ones who get to escape. The trapped ones are usually too high and unconscious to understand the concept of “self”. This isn’t a job like some of those who think this is an okay thing to do. These teenagers should be working at their local grocery store, not worrying about what drug they will get that day.

The main reason that prostitution should be criminalized is because these women have no rights. The only point of this worldwide problem is more men to gain masculinity by treating women as an object. (Bindel) As decades go on, these women are also being seen more as commodity. (Bindel) These women are seen as something you sell, and once the consumer is done with that product, it is just tossed or returned until the next person needs that product These women are on this earth for a reason and a percentage of men are treating these humans as we Americans did to African Americans in the 1800’s, property.

On the other hand of the argument, This is an industry that makes $14 billion a year in the United States alone. (Dill) If the US government was to legalize the selling of sex, we would then have to tax this money and the government would make a lot off of the taxes. They could help pay off debt, put more money into the school systems, and also help some of the poverty rich cities that are all across America.

Prostitution is the oldest occupation. By ways of the mental abuse it causes young men and women, other countries who have reformed prostitution to make it illegal and that men use it for their own masculinity, prostitution should be illegal for many reason. The only logical reason for it being legalized would be the taxes that the government would get from it.